Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or the characters. I simply borrow them for my own enjoyment.
Notes: I apologize for taking nearly a month to update the story. I went on vacation for my birthday, and when I returned I had tons of work to catch up on. I'm back though, and I hope to return to updating every week. I will get to all of the reviews soon. Thank you for your continued interest in this story. Enjoy! Sorry for any mistakes in this chapter, I had no time to have my friend V edit it.
Kate fought hard against the apprehension she felt.
Roy was no stranger, yet she felt extremely uneasy sitting across from him, in an abandoned barn, her hopes at solving this case hanging on every word he was about to speak.
She knew she could trust him, she probably should, but her heart refused to give in so readily.
It was a supporting hand on her thigh that pacified her struggle, allowing her to breathe easy and focus on the information her former boss was prepared to share.
"Again, I stress the importance of protecting my cover. I ask that Evelyn and my children…they are not to find out, especially if it is not coming from me directly." Beckett and Castle sat, somberly gazing at the man before them, realizing that he had not seen his family in years. He looked sadly at the pair, and waited for their acknowledgement before he proceeded to talk. "I don't know where exactly to begin."
"Is this case we're on related to you directly?" Beckett asked, the trepidation in her voice nearly vanished.
Roy nodded. "When you and Castle took Bracken down, we assumed we were finished. But a few months after he was locked away, word came out about a resurfaced drug ring in New York, more specifically Washington Heights." He did not fail to miss Kate's cringe. "We wouldn't have caught onto it, it was a small blip on the radar, until one of our informants confirmed that the baking and selling style all matched that of Vulcan Simmons." Kate nodded as she looked sideways at Castle.
"Lanie figured that out." She reaffirmed.
The man nodded proudly. His team, because they would always be his team, never disappointed. "Since we already had intel that Simmons was out of the picture, we decided to have our informant ask around. We came up empty handed time and time again. None of the dealers would speak names, and our informant was getting harassed and under suspicion of helping the feds. We pulled him a year later and decided to build a cover to infiltrate the circle. That only lasted a few months before the informant quit on us."
"Frank? Joe? Were they your men?" Castle asked curiously.
"Joe Mendez was my guy. We got his name from our first informant. I studied him extensively and followed him around before I approached him." Roy responded. "He was previously arrested for small narcotics infractions until he was pulled over by the NYPD during a routine stop. They found cocaine in his trunk, and that's when we stepped in."
"What did the FBI propose?" Beckett interjected.
"In exchange for clearing his name on the drug charges, and some monetary assistance, we asked that he be my permanent informant." He replied. "Joe was to gain access to the circle and get close to the boss. It was the only way we were going to get any names. So we set him up with his cover as Eric Parrilla." Roy nodded to himself.
"And the senior center?" Beckett asked.
"Joe started small. We placed him on the streets all over New York to gain access to several dealers. The main circle out of Washington Heights is an exclusive one, they only hire dealers that have reputations and are talked up by other circles. He was setting up connections with some pretty well known men when he heard a rumor about them hiring men out of a senior center in Hoboken." He paused to look at Castle and Beckett. "Joe asked the men for specifics, and it wasn't until he got close to one of the dealers that he got an address. That's when we decided to get him in."
"Were you aware that Joe used his given name at the senior center?" Beckett asked, intrigued by the new information.
Roy nodded. "He insisted we use his real name and his record to gain trust from the recruiter, if they should ever show interest. He felt his clean record as Eric Parrilla was not flashy enough, and changing it mid-way would look suspicious. I argued against it, especially because that would put his family at risk, but he insisted. He said he would always carry his cover identification in case anything happened, so it couldn't be traced back to his family."
"But it was." Castle shrugged.
"It was." Roy nodded. "You guys snooping around in his record was what alerted me that you were onto him." He shook his head.
"So how is Frank involved?" Beckett moved them along in the conversation. "He wasn't one of yours so what do we know about him? And why was he also carrying a cover identification?"
Roy leaned back in his chair. "Frank Cortez." He paused to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Initially he was our prime suspect. We thought he was a main guy, but it turns out he was only there to scope out potential recruits. He said as much after Joe showboated about his run ins with the law. It wasn't until another few weeks later that Frank told Joe he had gotten the okay from his boss to have him start dealing for Washington Heights. Months went by, and Joe started to make a reputation for himself around the neighborhoods. Eventually Frank had him talk to his boss, but never face to face. Until Joe got a call from Frank's boss telling him he wanted him to use the ruse of a vacation from work while he made personal runs for him. That was right before he got killed. We were close, he was so close." Roy shook his head disappointedly. "I have no idea why he was carrying a cover. Joe knew him as Frank and nothing else."
Castle and Beckett studied him, but said nothing as they waited for him to continue.
When a few moments of silence elapsed, Castle finally chimed in. "Who's John?"
Roy looked at Castle. "Joe was working on him. He could never get a last name out of him, and when the three of them went out to get drinks, the man would never talk business. He never got far with John." Roy dropped his gaze to the table top.
"We got information that John was close to Frank, but rumor was Joe and him weren't too chummy." Beckett continued. "Is it possible that Frank was trying to get John recruited and Joe was not happy with that?"
The man shook his head without looking up. "We're not sure. Joe mentioned the vacation was to a certain cabin that John owned, but Joe knew that was a ploy. Maybe Frank had finally gotten John in and he was suspicious of Joe."
"Do you think you or Joe got made?" Castle asked.
"We're not sure." Roy responded solemnly. "But no one has come knocking on my door so either they are waiting for the right moment, or they don't know who I am. I just know I have no informant and this drug circle is only getting richer and better at hiding themselves."
Castle huffed in frustration. "So we're back to square one." He looked to Beckett before moving his observation back to Roy. "What do you suggest we do now?"
Roy stood to pace. "Whatever we do, we have to do it quietly. Someone is on to you and the team." Roy remembered he had information regarding that.
"Who? How?" Beckett asked impatiently.
"When Joe was killed I started to go out to the usual spots where he would make contact with dealers, even the senior center, to keep gathering intel." He stopped moving to look at her. "I was outside of the center when Esposito and Ryan went in to ask questions. I parked there all night since it was the main point of contact for the recruiters. And since they were a man short, I figured they would come back to get some more men. That following morning, a man showed up at the center. He looked terribly familiar from far, but I can't place him. He didn't stay long at the center, but I saw him walk out with folders in his hands before he jumped into a black unmarked car. No plates."
Beckett and Castle looked at each other with concern.
"We received a warning note." Kate nodded as she looked back to Roy. "Came back clean. No prints."
Roy nodded. "We need to keep low."
"We're organizing a detail to tail us." Castle responded.
"Keep them at a distance. We want to keep safe, but if we keep the detail too close, whoever is behind this will watch what they do. We want them to make a mistake. But it's your call. Your case."
"Our case." Kate replied. "We're working with you now Roy."
Roy looked optimistically at his former detective. In the past few years she had matured into the best person she could have become. A great human being, and an outstanding investigator. "Thank you, Kate."
"So what's our next move?" Castle spoke after a few quiet minutes.
"We continue to dig. Let's go back to the senior center to get more on John."
Kate looked down at her clasped hands before she looked back up when she recalled something. "The man you saw that day at the senior center. It could be the man that collected the logs. He said he was a detective investigating Joe's and Frank's deaths."
Castle nodded as he remembered the details himself. "Alan Smith. Detective Alan Smith."
Roy sat and stared at his friends. "Let me take that one. I'll run that name on our end to see if we can come up with anything." The pair nodded in agreement. "We're going to get to the bottom of this." Roy responded as he tucked his badge back into his jacket pocket. "I promise."
…
Who is this mysterious John? Who is Alan Smith really? Any guesses?